RE: [Harp-L] Look Before You Peep (was storage, and rust)

[Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

My harps last me a very long time nowadays.  Nearly all the ones I use are either Suzuki Bluesmasters, Special 20s or Lee Oskars.  These are all plastic and metal only, no valves.  I reckon they get pretty damp inside over the course of a pub session, so years ago I reckoned that the best thing to do with 'em at the end of the evening was to wash 'em under a lukewarm-to-hot stream of water.  Down the holes then through the backs, a really good fast flow, though nothing violent.   Give 'em a good shake then tap out on the trouser leg. Dry the outside with a paper towel or something and leave out to dry overnight.  My reasoning was that they would spend the night clean and damp instead of grungy with congealed beer and damp.  I'm utterly convinced of two things: they sound brighter and more responsive than unwashed harps, and their life is not shortened, at least not to any degree that I can discern.  Also, I don't get cold sores or other nasties any more.  Of course, you can't do this with any harp that has valves in it.  With the two chroms I have, but which I use only a little, I grab a large dinner plate and fill it with about half an inch of hot water.  I invert the harp so that the mouthpiece and slide is submerged, then work the slide rapidly in and out a few times.  I remove the harp still upside down as I don't want water to get to the wood comb or valves, give it a shake and dry it in that position overnight.  I know that the mouthpiece is now nice and clean, and sticky slides are absolutely a thing of the past for me.  I found out years ago to my cost that you can't wash an Echo tremolo, as the wood immediately distorts leading to all kinds of trouble.  I just wipe the outsides thoroughly and clean the insides with isopropyl alcohol occasionally.  They last me for years. If you try to wash the old-style wooden blues harps you get horrible swelling, but I found you can wash the wood-combed MS harps as they appear to be made of a non-swelling wood.  I wash these too but I make it nippy.  Please feel free to not follow any of this sacrilegious advice.  It all works for me though!     
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